Halo: Reclamation
by Claws2
Summary: The Monitors all insist that Humanity is destined to reclaim the legacy of the Forerunners. To truly manage that, they need more information - data which can best be found in such artifacts as the Ark. This time around, one of them realizes this. Indefinite Hiatus


**Disclaimer: Regardless of possession of copies of the media, I do not own Halo. The intellectual rights to that franchise lie with Bungie Studios, Microsoft Corp. (spec. Microsoft Game Studios), Del Rey Books, TOR Books and, most recently, 343 Industries. Characters within this story are fictional, and most similarities to real people are coincidental. Aspects of the following universe may originate from other unfortunately uncredited stories, but the majority are from the canon universe or original, heavily leaning toward the former.**

Without Further Ado, I Now Present to You the Story of Halo: Reclamation

UNSC Master Chief Petty Officer, Spartan John-117 fell through a darkened shaft within the Ark Citadel, landing crouched to his knees and right hand in a shadowed chamber, closely followed by the Sangheili Arbiter, Thel 'Vadam, formerly of the Covenant. Standing, John caught a glimpse of another echo of Cortana leaping down the nearby hall in a fit of laughter and wryly made to follow her.

"What do you see," 'Vadam asked the enhanced human, his fellow warrior. He may not have understood the phenomenon, himself, but he recognized the attachment between the Spartan and his Construct and knew the songs of the past.

Without reply, the Chief continued to follow Cortana's 'Ghost,' with 'Vadam trailing behind him. They soon came to another chamber, where Cortana's flickering image meandered to a stop next to a control panel in the center of one wall before disappearing. John walked up the ramp leading to the panel and activated it, causing a blast shield outside the chamber to raise, revealing the wall in front of him to be a window.

As 'Vadam silently approached to stand beside John, the endless vista of roiling clouds before them was parted, first by a number of Forerunner Sentinels and then by something far greater.

Floating there before them, nearly complete but obviously still under construction, was a Halo.

'Vadam glanced over at the Chief. "A replacement...for the Ring you destroyed..."

John continued to stare out the window as the Halo rose further into the sky. "When did you know?"

The Arbiter and the Spartan were bathed in a diffuse blue light as the Forerunner Monitor designated 343 Guilty Spark dazedly floated toward them and the open viewport.

"Just now," Spark replied. "- but...I had my hopes." He turned to face John. "What will you do?"

The Chief himself turned fully toward the Monitor, and his reply sent the AI into a whirling frenzy of excitement. "Light it."

Briefly, Spark brought himself under control to respond to the declaration. "...Then we are agreed! A tactical pulse will completely eradicate the local infestation! I will personally oversee the final preparations." His excitement returning, the Monitor made to fly off toward his restored Installation. "Though it will take time to fabricate an activation index -"

John called out before he could go far. "Spark, hold," he demanded. Curious, the AI stilled, then returned to the chamber. 'Vadam was also visibly curious, but patiently held his silence.

"I know where to get an Index, Spark." John stared at High Charity in the distance, 'Vadam following his gaze. The Monitor tilted in confusion for zero-point-three-five seconds before his photoreceptor flashed red in angry realization until he again brought himself under control. "How long before the Halo is ready?"

Spark hummed as he ran through the calculations no less than five times. Seven seconds after the question was posed, he replied. "The Installation can be safely activated no sooner than three days from now, Reclaimer."

"We don't have that kind of time."

Spark's anger returned in force. He had just told the Reclaimer - the one who had already destroyed his home of more than one-hundred millenia; who obviously had no respect for nor concept of protocol - the soonest his new home could be complete! He had only just found this one, and it was yet within range of the Core, the Forge, of Installation 00! Did the Reclaimer not care about the consequences of rash action?

'Vadam grew worried. He knew what could happen to himself and his fellow warrior should the Oracle grow too furious. He turned and extended his hand to capture its attention. "Calm yourself, Oracle," he said with force, though not harshly. "The Abomination and its Plague will have already noticed your Ring and realized our plan. You would not be allowed to complete your repairs."

Spark stilled once more, his photoreceptor flashing rapidly between several hues as he ran calculations. To the biologicals present, he seemed to be struggling with himself to accept what he was being told. Before he could respond, 'Vadam continued.

"What would occur should the Ring fire before its completion, Oracle," he asked softly, already harboring suspicions.

Spark assigned his current calculations to a priority background task while bringing forth the results from his earlier calculation, though he still lost altitude with each variable that was solved. "At its current state, if the Installation were to be activated within the next seven hours, there would be a ninety-eight-point-six percent chance that the conduits would all experience mass critical overload at once and the Installation would destroy itself within one quarter-unit - fifteen of your minutes, Reclaimer. Given the current proximity to the Ark...I estimate a greater than seventy-seven percent chance of total mutual destruction with the resultant blast of unstable energy producing uncertain effects - the least dangerous being massive fluctuations within the local vicinity on all recorded planes." After another pause, Spark seemed to shudder in despair or revulsion. "Your prediction of the Enemy's action is quite accurate."

Throughout the explanation, John's mind had been racing, and he had come to a possible solution. "Spark - you said earlier you had 'a complete understanding' of the Halo, and just now that you'd oversee its preparation. Does your understanding include construction schematics?"

Spark bobbed and hummed as he scanned his databanks, staring at the Spartan in confusion. "I...yes, Reclaimer..."

The Chief nodded sharply to express that the Monitor's words had confirmed what he already suspected. "Do you have enough capacity to copy the construction schematics for the Ark?"

'Vadam's mandibles slackened and Spark's photoreceptor brightened in shocked realization. "You would rebuild-"

"We'll see," John interrupted. "Even if so, it wouldn't be perfect, and would probably lack several features. Now answer the question."

"I...do not know, Reclaimer. While I might be capable of holding the necessary data within my storage banks, this Installation is far more complex than my own. To further confuse matters, such sensitive information is likely far beyond my access privileges, and I have already found many of my efforts along our journey frustrated...I find myself wondering where to locate the local Monitor and whether it might be compliant to our efforts..."

**A/N1:** Sorry I haven't updated my earlier stories in so long. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in a bit of a writer's rut and haven't found much luck with arranging collaborative brainstorm sessions for either of them. About a week ago I both finally acquired a copy of FoR to complete my trilogy collection (unfortunately, I had to settle for the new edition) and started reading a few Halo fanfics again. As a result, I had this come to me rather randomly, but probably won't do much until I review the novels I have, including Onyx and Harvest. If any reader wishes to aide me with one of my stories, please contact me by PM - information on where to find online tours of manors and their estates would be especially helpful at present for BW.

Thank you for your patient perusal and patronage.

**A/N2 - 0018 HRS GMT-0600, AUG 23, 2011:** Well, crap. Having the books is all fine and dandy, and I know I've played through it all several times both alone and with friends, but it's gonna be difficult to write the first few chapters of this in any case without being able to play my copy of H3. For _some_ reason (I highly suspect due the dogs or a relative tripping over the controller cords once too often while futzing about behind the couch), my 360 refuses to even power on, much less boot up. Of course, I checked the power cord, the outlet, etc.; tried the power and eject buttons and the controller XBox buttons - nothing seems to do the trick, although I haven't been able to find another power cord I can borrow. I kinda doubt it's the cord, anyway, since it still shows that obnoxious orange glow, and has never been green. No RRoD, but it's not likely to see life anytime soon, so...

Heck, if it weren't for my current Live subscription, I might just go ahead and try taking a look inside, since it's out of warranty, but I still want to go online when I get it fixed or replaced.

To think, it was working _just fine_ right up until the latest Dashboard update...


End file.
